Firefighters Face Largest Fire In Los Angeles History

Firefighters Gain Ground Against Historic Fire In Los Angeles

A brushfire believed to be one of the largest in the history of the city of Los Angeles has scorched some 7,000 acres of land in California, destroyed four homes and prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency.

A historic brush fire ravaged almost 5,900 acres of land in California as over 1,000 firefighters continued to push back the flames, KABC, a Los Angeles-based ABC affiliate reports Sunday morning.

The fire, which erupted Friday, had forced the evacuation of more than 700 homes in the Los Angeles suburbs of Burbank, Glendale and Sunland-Tujunga. Evacuees from Burbank started to trickle back to their homes on Saturday.

The fire, dubbed the La Tuna Fire, started in West La Tuna Canyon Road in Sun Valley Friday afternoon, reports the Los Angeles Times. It started as a small brush fire sparked by a triple digit heat wave and quickly spread due to shifting winds.

“Our biggest concern is the wind and weather,” Terrazas said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “The erratic weather is our No. 1 challenge. If there’s no wind, this is a relatively easy fire to put out. But when the wind changes, it changes our priorities because other properties become at risk.”

Several aircrafts have been dropping water and fire retardant on hot spots. As of Sunday morning, about 800 firefighters are working to control the blaze.

The LAFD began working on the fire with reduced resources as well. At least 100 fire fighters were deployed to Houston, Texas, to help with Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts, Terrazas said at the press conference. But as of Saturday they were headed back to Los Angeles.